


Secrets and Sephora

by OwlWaterLogged



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Lance is a snoop, M/M, Shiro wears eyeliner, Shiro wears make-up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 05:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8191109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwlWaterLogged/pseuds/OwlWaterLogged
Summary: Lance find out Keith has a secret box filled with secret things, and immediately decides he must know the contents of this box.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who have read my other work, this is in the same AU and follows the events of the other work. There are certain things that do take place between the two, such as Keith and Lance getting together, that are not explained with this. I'm working on another piece that will take place right after the events of Space Soaps. It will all be made into a series, but I first want to get said mentioned pieces written before doing so.  
> For those of you who have not read my other work, don't worry. You do not need to read the it for this one to make sense.
> 
> As always, this is not beta read so all mistakes are my own. I also do not own the Voltron series. 
> 
> Enjoy!

When Lance had decided to go pester his boyfriend, he had been expecting to enter the red paladin’s room to a number of different scenarios – Keith sitting around reading the latest data pad Pidge had translated, Keith working out (again), Keith glaring loathefully at a framed picture of Zarkon while angst rolled off of him in visible waves, or possibly Keith brushing his stupid mullet. None of these were correct predictions and none of them mentally prepared Lance for walking into the room to find Keith shifting through what appeared to be a shoebox that Lance had never seen in their several months aboard the Castle of Lions.

Now, Lance  _ could  _ have been an adult about this and thought of several items that would rightfully be placed in shoebox for storage… or he could be a pubescent teenage boy and let his brain drop right down into the gutters. All those who knew Lance knew it was safe to assume that the prior did not happen.

For a moment, Lance and Keith were frozen – Keith staring at the Latino in shock at the sudden intrusion to his room, Lance simply staring wide eyed at the box currently occupying the bed. Just what deep dark secrets had Keith brought with him when they departed Earth? The blue paladin had to give the red props for planning ahead though. Most importantly though, was Keith willing to  _ share? _

A mischievous grin spread across Lance’s face as he started to move forward. In response, Keith hurriedly shoved the lid back onto the box and all but threw it under his bed.

“ _ Lance. _ ” The name was drawn out with warning. Keith’s entire body was locked up in what Lance could only assume was horror at having his little box of secrets be discovered.

“Aww,” Lance couldn’t help but coo at how ruffled his boyfriend looked at the moment – like a kitten when they’re trying to be defensive but just make themselves look cuter. “What? Afraid of little ol’ me seeing you with your toy box?”

Lance continued to stalk forward, forcing Keith to take a step back, and another, until his knees hit the edge of his mattress.

“Can’t you just leave this  _ one thing _ alone?” Lance was surprised to hear Keith whine – a literal, voice squeaking, high pitched, scared whine.

If there had been any ideas floating in the recesses of Lance’s mind to relent and leave Keith alone, they suddenly flew out the window and into the deep beyond of space with that whine.

The grin plastered on Lance’s face grew even bigger, his eyes lit up like a kid’s on Christmas morning. Keith balked in slight terror.

“What’s in the box?” Lance asked in the most friendly voice he could muster.

He was met with a stark “No” as Keith straightened up. Lance, of course, was not fooled by the sudden show of bravery; Keith’s stupidly pretty eyes were still wide as a deer’s when they’re caught in the headlights.

“What’s in the box, Keith?” he said again.

“ _ No.”  _ It was a bit sturdier a response this time.

Lance just continued to smile. “Yes.”

“ _ NO.” _

_ “Yes.” _

The fear was beginning to dissipate from Keith, being replaced with his usual infamous temper.

“I said no, Lance. Just  _ go away.” _

Well, if Keith was going to play the stubborn game, Lance would pitch in and play right along too.

“I’m not going anywhere until I see what’s inside that box.” He crossed his arms, sidestepped around Keith, and plopped down onto his bed. “And before you try to make some weak ass argument about physically kicking me out, or the morality of this, or invasion of privacy, know that I  _ am _ the middle child of five and  _ all of them are girls _ . If you want to play the stubborn game with me, fine. But know that you  _ will  _ lose. The shame of how easy it was for me will hang over you for the rest of eternity.”

They stayed frozen, staring at each other, stuck at impasse. After a minute had ticked by, just as Lance had predicted, Keith broke.

With a sigh, Keith started bartering. “If I show you, do you  _ swear _ not to tell  _ anyone  _ what you saw?”

_ Lance: 1, Keith: 0,  _ Lance thought victoriously as he mulled over the conditions before deciding he could live with those terms.

“Sure,” he shrugged, “as long as you consider sharing from time to time.”

Keith looked at him with one brow raised in a look Lance had quickly learned meant that he’d lost Keith somewhere in the subtleties of English. Oh well, he’d catch up soon.

“You’re bad enough with your skin care regime every morning. We are  _ not _ adding this to it,” Keith responded as he knelt by his bed and reached under. Lance took the opportunity to enjoy the view while remaining a bit confused over what had just be said. The other fished around before pulling the box back out into the open.

With the box now in hand, Keith sad down on the bed next to Lance and moved to hand him the cardboard treasure trove but pulled it back at the last second.

“You  _ promise  _ not to tell?” He asked like an elementary schooler sharing the location of their secret hideout with a friend.

Lance rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh.

“ _ Yes _ , I  _ promise  _ not to tell  _ anyone  _ about your box that apparently must hold the secrets of the universe for all the trouble I’m going through to just look inside it.” He looked to Keith expectantly, waiting for his prize.

Keith’s eyes had narrowed at the sarcasm that had been dripping off of Lance’s words.

“Swear on your mother’s homemade miguelitos.”

It took a moment for Lance’s brain to catch up with what Keith had just said; when it did, he was taken aback.

Sure, Lance had complained enough about missing his mom’s home cooked food, but for Keith to remember this  _ one dish _ and use it like  _ this… _

“You’re using my homesickness for my mama’s food  _ against me?” _ Lance sagged in false devastation. This was  _ not  _ fair.

_ Lance: 1, Keith: 1 _

Keith looked a bit smug as he held the box just out of Lance’s grabbing distance. “Either you want to see what’s inside, or you don’t. The choice is totally up to you.” He said it so nonchalantly that Lance almost wanted to punch him. Almost. But he didn’t because, dammit, curiosity killed the cat and Lance had always had some feline-like tendencies when it came to sticking his nose in stuff.

It pained him greatly, but Lance was able to say through grit teeth, “I promise, on my mother’s delicious miguelitos, that you will never taste ‘cause you’re an  _ ass _ , that I won’t share your deep, dark, dirty secrets that you hide in a shoebox under your bed in space.”

Keith decided that would be as good as he’d get from the begruttled blue paladin and relinquished the box.

Lance grabbed it and tore off the lid before Keith could change his mind and take the box back. As he had thought when entering Keith’s room earlier, Lance believed he was fully prepared for any strange or exotic contents within the box.

As before, he was not.

Inside, meticulously organized by brand, kind, shape and size, was make-up. Specifically – eyeliner. So many different kinds of eyeliner. If the entire box was full of this stuff, Lance was holding  _ at least _ $1,000 worth of product.

And it wasn’t the cheap stuff from Walmart his sisters used. No – this was the high end stuff that you payed $20 a tube if you were  _ lucky. _ There were charcoals, liquids, gels, brushes for some of the pallets. All of it was in black.

So many questions swirled around inside Lance’s head, the biggest one being –

“You wear make-up?”

Lance dug around in his memories, trying to think of an instance where Keith’s eyes had seemed to stand out and pop just a bit more than others. He couldn’t think of any. This wasn’t to say Keith couldn’t pull it off, or that Lance had anything against men wearing make-up. He’d already said he had four sisters. There had been many instants in Lance’s life where paste and powder had been smeared across his face and lipstick applied for dress up and tea parties. It was a point of pride for Lance that he could walk in heels and pull off red lipstick and a dress better than some of his cousins.

But he just couldn’t see Keith – daredevil, hardcore, leather biker jacket and fingerless gloves, Keith – in that roll. At least not on a daily schedule that would cause him to have around ten years of eyeliner stored away.

“I said you could look, not that I’d answer any questions.” Keith took the box out of Lance’s limp hands and placed the lid back on top. “Now you know what I have so, please. go. away.”

As he said it, Keith was physically hauling Lance off of his bed and pushing him towards the door and into the hallway.

“You’re kicking me out?” Lance teased, putting his heels down to slow Keith’s progress. “But we were bonding!”

Keith gave no response, just pushed Lance a bit harder.

“Honey, sweetie, my darling pumpkin puff! There’s so much to talk about here!” Lance held back a laugh as Keith made a bit more progress. In retaliation, Lance started to lean backwards into the hands shoving at him.

“Don’t ever call me that again.” Keith deadpanned, Lance was almost out the door.

Lance looked over his shoulder, smiling again. “What would you prefer then? Cuddle-bunny? Sweetheart? Oh! Maybe snookums!”

With a final, hard shove, Lance was standing in the hallway. He turned around, hoping to catch the door before it slid shut. Keith was standing there, hand hovering over the control panel, once again looking adorably ruffled and slightly red.

“See you at dinner,” was all he said before hitting the panel, leaving Lance alone in the metal hall.

“Keith, you can’t leave me out here! It’s dark and cold and raining!” He banged on the door for the theatrics of it all.

From the other side came a muffled response. “The lights are working just fine, the ship has climate control, and it is  _ not raining _ .”

Well fine, Lane figured he could probably find someone else to bother for the rest of the afternoon. Maybe he’d try to figure out why Keith had so much make-up on his own.

But really, who  _ actually _ needed that much eyeliner?

*

Lance got his answer several days later.

The team had landed on a neutral planet to do some recon and stretch their legs. There had been a market of sorts that they had done some trading at. Hunk had been after solid, non-gelatinous food. Pidge found a few data pads that would help the group in their continued effort to learn Galran. Allura and Coran had been searching for more supplies to continue the repairs on the castle ship.

Lance and Keith had managed to get away from the group for a bit and actually go on a short date. They’d found a nice little shop that was similar to a café. The food had been very different from anything Lance had ever seen but, then again, they were a  _ long _ ways away from Earth. Ordering food had been a bit of a guessing game but Lance had been pleasantly surprised that when he bit into what appeared to be similar to a piece of purple bacon, it tasted similar to caramel and had the consistency of a flakey pastry.

Afterwards, they went along the lines of tents looking at all the wears merchants were selling. Keith hadn’t gotten anything, but Lance picked up a new shirt.

When they rejoined the group, they all worked to pack up the ship and head back into open space. Once they were underway again, Keith went over to Shiro and handed him something small and cylindrical.

“Don’t ask me who I traded with or how much I paid for it – you don’t want to know. And no, I don’t know how they got it, just be happy they did.”

The entire group stared at the two in confusion as their leader stared at the small tube in absolute awe.

Everyone had noticed the slight funk Shiro had been in for the past few days. It wasn’t anything big – just tiny things during downtime. Whatever was nagging at the black paladin hadn’t affected training or forming Voltron, so the team figured he’d get out of the mood on his own. Lance had also noticed Shiro seemed to look different. He couldn’t put his finger on what had changed, Shiro was just… different.

Now though, with the older man holding the little black container, Lance knew.

His eyes.

Shiro’s eyes weren’t as sharply defined as they were all so used to seeing.

It only occurred to Lance now thanks to that tiny black tube Keith had just handed over to his brother. A tube of eyeliner. A tube he had  _ not _ traded for, but had gotten out of his stash hidden under his bed. But only Keith and Lance knew about that.

As requested, Shiro didn’t ask any questions but did sweep Keith up into a bear hug before all but sprinting out of the room with a look of sheer joy plastered on his face.

The rest of the team just watched him go with varying degrees of confusion.

“What just happened?” Hunk asked from his place on the couch.

“You mean besides Keith being faced with physical contact and a display of emotion and  _ not _ running in the opposite direction? No clue,” Pidge replied flatly without looking up from her computer and the wires she was currently fiddling with.

Keith shot a glare at Pidge before shaking his head and walking out of the room without responding to the original question. Lance saw fit to follow. They were headed in the direction of the paladins’ personal quarters.

Once they were far enough away from the group to not be heard, Lance jogged up to walk beside Keith, looking rather smug.

“Sooo,” he drawled knowingly, “all that stuff is Shiro’s personal space stock?”

Instead of answering, Keith looked around as if Shiro would magically be summoned by the speaking of his name. When he was sure the coast was clear, Keith grabbed Lance by his coat and pulled him into his bedroom.

“Does promising not to talk about it mean  _ nothing _ to you?” Keith growled, but his voice was at a forced whisper since Shiro’s room was just down the hall from his.

Lance just stood in the doorway, staring at Keith, looking rather blank.

“What’s the big deal? Why’d you lie to Shiro about the eyeliner, and why do you have  _ so much of it?” _ While Lance didn’t talk at a whisper, he wasn’t so much of a dick to raise his voice and actually summon their leader.

Keith sighed and moved to flop down on his bed.

“If he knew I brought the mass majority of his stash from home, he might not be as careful with it.” Keith stared up at the ceiling. “And you saw how happy he was about  _ one tube _ , I figure if I keep the rest of it secret, I can pretend to get something from a trading post whenever he’s really feeling homesick.”

Lance carefully moved across the room to sit against the wall on the bed next to Keith’s head, bringing his knees up to his chest and curling into a ball. It was a bit hard to believe that Keith was talking about  _ Shiro  _ being homesick. Unless he was going through a panic attack, the oldest of team Voltron always seemed to be perfectly fine with their current location in deep space.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Keith said. “You’ve all gone through your phases of homesickness and everyone’s helped you through it, but Shiro’s always just fine. Except he’s not. He was in space for months before getting taken by the Galra and after he escaped, he was back on Earth for… a day?” He took a moment to think. “No, not even that. He was back on Earth less than 24 hours before he was back in space.”

There was a pause as Keith shifted around a bit further up onto his bed. Lance moved to accommodate.

“We’ve all been up here for a couple of months now. Shiro’s pretty much going on two years. We’ve talked about it. What we miss and stuff. How all his friends back on Earth probably think he’s still dead. How he misses the mountains we would go climb on weekends back in Japan. How we miss food that  _ makes sense. _ He might be the head of Voltron, but he’s still human and he definitely gets homesick. If little things like a tube of eyeliner help him feel like things are more normal, so be it.”

Keith smiled a bit. Not too much, but there was a lighter glimmer in his eyes as he thought of some unvoiced memory.

“So the eyeliner is your guys’ version of normal?” Lance teasingly asked, trying to lighten things further. He may have accomplished the opposite. Maybe.

“Are you  _ seriously _ asking that?” Keith looked like he was just waiting for Lance to shove his foot into his mouth and be done with it. Lance figured it was only polite to oblige him.

“Well, I… um… I mean, it’s not like it’s a  _ bad  _ thing! You just don’t – you know – see it… every… day?” He really didn’t mean to phrase it as a question.

Thankfully, Keith didn’t seem to upset. In fact, he seemed to be stifling laughter at the moment.

“Have you ever  _ looked  _ at Shiro? Since we got here, how many times have you seen him without eyeliner?”

Lance took a moment to think on it. Yes, he had definitely looked at Shiro. Who hadn’t? The man was built like a like a brick house and had a face that cosmetologist probably drooled over. There was probably a reason the Galaxy Garrison had used him in quite a bit of their advertisements.

As for the eyeliner, Lance had to think harder. Well, there was that one time Allura called an emergency meeting for… wait – no. Shiro had been completely put together, looking like he did every day. Now that Lance  _ really  _ thought about it, the past few days were the only time he’d seen Shiro without his eyes outlined. He was literally always wearing it.

Keith seemed to take Lance’s silence and contemplative look as his answer.

Sitting up, Keith smiled over at his boyfriend. “Exactly.”

But that  _ couldn’t  _ be. Lance had seen Shiro in pictures and news casts long before he’d actually met the guy. He’d always had that slight cat-eye look. Unless he wore the stuff while in the Garrison.

“Even in the Garrison?” Lance could not imagine Iverson letting something like that by.

Keith snorted. “ _ Before  _ the Garrison. He started wearing it in high school when some kids were picking on one guy for liking it. Shiro got so angry about it. Mom spent the entire evening teaching him how to put on eyeliner. Some of the pictures Dad got of the lessons are priceless.”

Looking over to Keith’s backpack, where the USB drives of pictures Keith had brought along resided, Lance made a mental note to ask about the pictures later.

“The next day, the bullies were still picking on the guy, so Shiro marched up to them and just stared them all down with perfectly winged eyes.” Keith’s face was now pulled into a huge grin. “No one challenged it after that, and Shiro just kept wearing the stuff because he liked it.”

Lance rolled his eyes with good nature. “Of course Shiro was a teenage social justice warrior.”

“Yeah,” Keith chuckled. “Iverson tried to give him shit about it but it’s not like there was anything actually written saying Shiro couldn’t wear make-up. And what could they do about it?  _ Expel their best pilot?” _

They both laughed together at the thought of someone actually trying to expel the legendary Takashi Shirogane.

After their laughter had died down, Keith scooted back on the bed to lean on the wall by Lance. He reached out and laced the fingers of Lance’s left hand with his right.

“You know, whenever anyone goes on an extended mission for the Garrison, they get to make a request for one specific item they want to be packed for them while they’re in space. Usually, people ask for some kind of specific food that remind them of home; Shiro asked for enough eyeliner to get him through the six months he was supposed to be on the Kerberos Mission. Iverson had to present it to him in front of an audience right before take-off. I think Pidge has a video of it somewhere,” Keith mused while examining their intertwined hands. They’d have to go bother the green paladin later.

“So Shiro goes for the high end stuff?” Lance teased, and got an eye roll in return.

“He knew every employee at the Sephora in Phoenix by name. They have their new staff memorize his regular order at orientation.” Keith rested his head on Lance’s shoulder. “I got a letter of condolence from the branch manager when they announced the Kerberos Mission failure.”

Lance hummed in response. For a while, they just sat there, enjoying the silence and the company of the other. Then, as he normally did, Lance had a thought.

“Do you think he’d teach me how to do wings?” Oh, Lance’s sisters would be so jealous if he returned to earth able to do better eyeliner than them!

Keith looked up at Lance with his ‘I am confused by your use of language’ look. “The branch manager of the Phoenix Sephora? They’re a little far away, Lance.”

God, Lance loved these moments.

“No, dumdum,” Lance smiled. “Shiro. You said it – his wings are perfect. They are _always symmetric_. Do you know how hard that is?”

He nodded in response. “From all the cursing I heard from him in the morning growing up, I can guess. And you’ll have to ask him. You wouldn’t be the first person he’s taught.”

Lance hopped up from the bed, practically vibrating with excitement.

“Oh my god, that would be so cool! And my sisters would be  _ SO _ jealous. I’m gonna go ask him right now!” And he was out the door, leaving Keith sitting on his bed smiling.

God, he’d fallen for such a dork.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I really enjoyed writing this piece. If you're interested in some of my headcannons that I use throughout the my stories or just like lots of voltron shenanigans, you can go explore my voltron tag on my tumblr over [here](http://warninglabelrequired.tumblr.com/).


End file.
